When There’s a Will, There’s a Bill: Protection for Mueller

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In early April, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders stated that President Donald Trump believes he has the power to fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation. This is technically false, as Trump would have to go through Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is the only person authorized to fire special counsel. Furthermore, he can only be fired for “misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, or conflict of interest” according to the special counsel rules.

In any case, Sander’s statement did provoke a response from Congress.

Soon after Sanders’ statement, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill that would provide more protection for the special counsel. The Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act would make it so the special counsel can only be fired on reasonable grounds by a senior Justice Department official. There would also exist a ten day window following a termination during which the special counsel could contest the decision in court and possibly overturn it. While it is unlikely the legislation will pass through Congress and be signed by the president, it is yet another warning to Trump to restrain himself.

The bill began as an idea from a bipartisan group of senators including Lindsey Graham (South Carolina, R), Cory Booker (New Jersey, D), Chris Coons (Delaware, D), and Thom Tillis (North Carolina, R). They authored the bill with Senator Lindsey Graham as the official sponsor. The bill was introduced and referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on April 11, 2018.

The chair of the committee, Charles Grassley (Iowa, R), proposed an amendment that would add congressional reporting requirements. These requirements would mean the attorney general would have to report to Congress about modifications to the scope of the special counsel, which, according to CNN, would “open the investigation to potential political interference.” This amendment would shift the original purpose of the bill from a warning to President Trump not to fire Mueller, to a possible opportunity for further disruption and intrusion. However the committee’s top Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California, threatened to vote against the bill with the added amendment, and eventually met with Grassley to form a compromise. While the amendment failed with a 5-16 vote, the bill passed with a 14-7 vote and was reported out on April 26.

Despite the bill’s initial success in the committee, it was already projected to fail in the next step of the process on the Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky, R) announced on April 18, before the bill was reported out, that he felt the legislation was unnecessary. He said to Fox News in reference to the bill that “We’ll not be having this on the floor of the Senate,” marking the death of the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act. Despite this particular bill’s failure, there is no doubt that more will emerge as President Trump continues to issue claims and threats.